A year into Trump tariffs, Chinese factories and ports are buzzing with

A year after U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs spooked exporters and customers, Chinese factories and ports are buzzing with activity ahead of the Lunar New Year — even pushing freight rates higher.

Chinese factory activity typically surges at the start of the year with manufacturers racing to fulfil orders and ship out goods before the country enters an extended holiday for the Chinese New Year. This year’s pre-holiday rush appears as busy as ever despite Trump tariffs.

Renaud Anjoran, founder and CEO of Agilian Technology, a Guangdong-based electronics manufacturer, said his factory was operating at nearly full capacity after a year of stop-start tariff threats: “We are very busy.”

“It’s back to the situation where it’s like tariffs don’t exist. American customers are not thinking of [buying from] other places,” Anjoran said, adding that some clients had to pay additional costs to have goods made and shipped out before the holiday.

His plant in the city of Dongguan ships more than half its products to the U.S., maintaining exports at levels seen before Trump’s imposition of tariffs last year.

“Factories saw orders, production and earnings jump ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays,” according to China Beige Book that tracks economic data from the world’s second largest economy.

The research firm estimates that in January, industrial output jumped compared to a year ago, with both domestic and export orders “accelerating sharply on-year and on-month.” The official reading on output for January and February will be out in March.

Major ports in China handled 40% more containers during the week ended Feb. 1 from a year earlier, according to a team of transport and logistics analysts at HSBC Bank. That marks the fastest year-on-year growth in more than 12 months and well above the average weekly growth of about 10% in 2025.

Take the ports in Ningbo, one of China’s most critical maritime hubs: Terminals operated “beyond capacity, with individual vessels overbooked by more than 20%, and container gate-in has been suspended,” said Jay Guo, dean at Ningbo China Institute for Supply Chain Innovation.